Nexus started as a vision of improving the Bitcoin protocol and at the same time cleaning the cryptosphere from scam coins.

Lead Developer Videlicet (Viz) studied the foundations of the Bitcoin Core code, understanding how Satoshi structured Bitcoin and identifying opportunities for improvement. At this time, the altcoin market was being flooded with scams and pump and dump schemes where coins pushing promises, buzz words, and the allure of quick profits were used to swindle BTC from communities. Fom Viz’s vision, Coinshield (CSD) was born.

The first CSD block was mined on September 23, 2014 at 16:20 UTC-7, and the project soon-to-be named Nexus was live. At that point, the project had one channel of mining: a Prime Mining channel (CPU). On October 23, 2014, the Hashing (GPU) channel was launched as the second proof channel. The blocks included a first-ever subsidy, where a portion from each mined block would be sent to one of 13 developer accounts and another portion would be sent to one of 13 exchange accounts. On January 24, 2015, CSD was listed on Bittrex Exchange.

Shortly afterwards, Viz drafted the first whitepaper that outlined how the network would work to recycle and merge the economies and communities of these scam coins. The goal was to help the people in those communities, bring them into the CSD community, and at the same time help clean up the cryptosphere. The exchange accounts would be used to merge these economies by exchanging the coins for a portion of CSD.

On April 11, 2015, Viz announced the intention to rebrand to Nexus. Discussion pursued about the ticker symbol, and NIRO was chosen to represent Nexus. On July 24, 2015, Nexus version 2.0 was released with Nexus Proof of State (nPOS) and the introduction of the Trust Network. This laid the foundation for the broader scope of Nexus.

At the beginning of September 2015, Videlicet revealed his identity as Colin Cantrell. In October 2015, a more formal team was formed to promote development, build the community, and market Nexus. The ticker symbol was revised to NXS. Discussions on Nexus’s direction led to the decision to abandon the recycling and merging that was part of the Coinshield project. The technical work required to implement the merging was done, but with the explosion in the number of new cryptos, the process would have had little impact. Therefore, Nexus began to develop into something much more expansive. The project had a whole new direction.

The 3D Chain is an evolution of Blockchain protocol, built from the ground up to provide a strong foundation for Nexus and other future projects using the technology. Using a unique implementation of three consensus channels, Nexus transforms the Blockchain into a 3D process called the 3 dimensional chain. By adapting to transaction volume, using trust to secure the network, and weighting transactions to determine the most efficient use of resources, the 3DC increases decentralization and limits the influence exerted by any one system. The 3DC protocol organically scales to meet network computational demands, which means the network gets faster as more nodes join the system.

The new 3DC framework is the next evolution of the blockchain protocol. The 3DC uses a unique implementation of three consensus channels, transforming the blockchain into a 3D process called the 3 dimensional chain. The 3DC is an efficient, scalable and secure framework designed for greater decentralization and utilization of resources, and will be implemented through the three stages of the TAO (Tritium, Amine, Obsidian) upgrade.

Prime Mining Channel: This mining channel looks for a special prime cluster of a set length. This type of calculation is resistant to ASIC mining, allowing for greater decentralization. This is most often performed using the CPU.

Hashing Channel: This channel utilizes the more traditional method of hashing. This process adds a random nonce, hashes the data, and compares the resultant hash against a predetermined format set by the difficulty. This is most often performed using a GPU.

Proof-of-stake (nPoS): Staking is a form of mining NXS. With this process, you can receive NXS rewards from the network for continuously operating your node (wallet). It is recommended that you only stake with a minimum balance of 1000 NXS. It’s not impossible to stake with less, but it becomes harder to maintain trust. Losing trust resets the interest rate back to 0.5% per annum.

Nexus is creating a distributed satellite and ground based mesh network to enable global access to the Nexus Blockchain. In partnership with Vector Space Systems, a nanosatellite company, we will launch communication satellites to provide a fast, affordable, and secure network with unparalleled coverage, distributed across multiple satellites for enhanced reliability and performance. The capabilities provided by the Galactic Sky platform combined with the flexibility of Vector’s launch model bring us one step closer to accomplishing our mission of providing the world with a decentralized currency that can be accessed virtually anywhere, anytime.

Satoshi Nakamoto developed the Blockchain to be a secure peer to peer network maintaining a distributed ledger. The majority of Blockchains follow this concept, yet these systems still run on the relatively centralized Internet, leaving critical junction points vulnerable to attack or control.
Inspired by the idea which gave birth to the Blockchain protocol, Nexus is placing satellites in orbit and building a supporting ground network to create the world’s first truly distributed system operating on distributed infrastructure.
Each satellite operates as a full node, and connects with its peers in orbit and on the ground to establish a complete mesh network that is resistant to external control. This robust and autonomous infrastructure runs parallel to the Internet, providing alternate pathways for the global community.